A review by bellebeaumont95
The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist by S.L. Huang

adventurous dark inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

 Do the atargati experience love, or only curiosity? Or are those all one and the same to them?

Maybe one day they'll trust a human being enough to share everything. Wouldn't that be amazing? God, I'd die to be that person.

The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist is a queer sci-fi retelling of The Little Mermaid. If that isn't one of the coolest sentences you've ever read, we've nothing to say to each other, good luck. It follows the beats of the original Hans Christian Andersen story (with a nod to the Disney version) over a backdrop that felt rich and immersive and fascinating. Instead of the mermaid being fascinated with the human world, the narrator is a "piscianthropologist" (a scientist who studies mermaid culture, which I need to be a real actual field of study I can get a degree in as soon as possible) and she is fascinated with, what else, the deep sea and all its inhabitants.

This novella is 46 pages long. I need you all to understand that this tiny little story made me cry in public and clutch at my chest and annoy my sister and all my friends with my blubbering in only 46 pages.

The themes of science as a collaborative creation that spans decades and centuries, the importance of respect and cultural appreciation (particularly in social sciences), the theme of curiosity and passion to the point of madness, the theme of love as a force of salvation and destruction!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa no one perceive me

If anything I wish this had been longer. I think it would absolutely KILL as a podcast, since the format is voice-narrated journal.

Writing this review made me bump my initial 4.25 stars to 4.75 wow